Serbia joins final four of 2012 European Olympic Qualification Tournament – Volleyball news
After an incredibly close competition with Slovenia, the men’s national volleyball team of Serbia managed to pave its way into the semi-finals of 2012 European Olympic Qualification Tournament.
The cracking fight between Slovenian and Serbia took place at Arena Armeec competition hall in Sofia, Bulgaria on Friday. Match spanned over four sets, while Slovenia managed to secure only one set. Serbia came on top with three sets to one and edged out
Slovenia. Serbs dropped the opening set of the match with narrow margin of three points but displayed a better performance in following three sets. The set scores of the match were 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 27-25, 25-15).
Atanasijevic played an instrumental role in Serbia’s victory. He performed consistently throughout the match and totalled 19 points. He was followed by his teammate Stankovic, who added 17 points. On Slovenian side, Alen Pajenk emerged as the top-scorer
with a total of 17 points.
The start of the match was not very great as both teams made quite a few errors. However, Serbia made more mistakes and also suffered the damage. Slovenia got better and earned one-point advantage at the first technical timeout.
Meanwhile, Serbs controlled the unnecessary mistakes and attained stability. With improved performance, Serbia went up at the second technical timeout (16-15). The game of hit ‘n’ run continued, while Slovenia managed to secure first set with a couple of
good shots in the last moments of the frame.
After dropping the opening set, Serbia hit back aggressively in the second set. The strong offence helped the Serbs to built 8-6 lead at the FTT. Slovenia fell down and could not return in the game. Serbia cruised past to second-set win and levelled the
game score.
Second-set win enabled Serbia to put pressure on the rival side. Slovenia tried to break the tempo of Serbian hitters but failed to do. Serbia extended its lead to 2-1 and totally shaped up to win the match.
In the fourth set, Serbia proved to be better and defeated the opponent with 10-point margin. Serbs captured last three sets in row and announced match victory.
“Serbia played a solid game. They were calmer and better in offense and blocking. On the other hand, we had too many problems in scoring. It is very difficult for us to play without good attack and this was obvious through the whole tournament. We leave
Sofia a little disappointed,” said the captain of losing side Tine Urnaut.
The winning captain Bojan Janic also had his say about the match. He commented, “Our opponent made a very strong game today and we are happy that we managed to win. Now we will try to rest and sleep well, because tomorrow we will need to double the effort,
if we want to play in the final.”
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